NEW DELHI: A storm is gathering to break out in the apex court after the new Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, takes over on November 9. Among the important cases to be heard within the first week of his tenure would be the one involving a public spat between Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel and India’s Solicitor General (SG) Tushar Mehta.
Baghel has accused Mehta of making “false” and “mischievous” allegations against him “for political motives” during the hearing of a case in the Supreme Court.
The SG, representing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the Apex Court, had stated that Baghel had met a sitting judge of the High Court a few days before some of the accused in the Nagrik Apurti Nigam (NAN) scam were granted bail. He was countered by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal representing the Chhattisgarh Government in the court and the Chief Minister’s office in Raipur.
The case with pronounced political ramifications is related to the alleged multi-crore Nagrik Apurti Nigam (NAN) scam in the state of Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh, which had emerged in February 2015.
NAN is the agency in charge of the distribution and procurement of foodgrain. Rice millers and agents allegedly paid bribes to senior Raipur-based IAS officials to allow substandard rice to be distributed through the state’s PDS to the marginalised section of the society.
On October 20, a Bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justices Ajay Rastogi and S. Ravindra Bhatt, refused to further hear the plea of Enforcement Directorate (ED) on account of paucity of time while adjourning the matter to the week commencing November 14.
The adjournment came after the Solicitor General told the Bench that a Bilaspur High Court judge had met Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, alleging collusion between the accused in the NAN scam and “highly placed persons”.
According to Mehta’s submissions, 72 witnesses of the total 170 had turned hostile. He placed before the court purported WhatsApp chats between the accused bureaucrats and members of the state investigating agencies.
He also placed documents in a sealed envelope before the court which he claimed “would shake the conscience of the Bench” while proving that a free and fair trial in the scam till it was happening in Chhattisgarh was not possible.
In an earlier hearing on September 19, Mehta had stated, “Please go through the material. If this comes out in the public domain, it might shake people’s faith in the system because of the individuals involved It remains to be seen how the Supreme Court disposes of the case at the next hearing. But the controversy involving a sitting judge of the High Court, the constitutional authorities and the accused in a criminal trial, are bound to have wider long-term implications for the country.
